Horse camping has become really popular in recent years and you can find "horse campgrounds" all over the country now. There is a concentration of these horse campgrounds here in Jamestown, Tennessee, because this area has the best trail riding east of the Mississippi and is called "The Trail Riding Capital of the Southeast." The Big South Fork national park encompasses 125,000 acres and has hundreds of miles of trails, criss-crossing the Tennessee/Kentucky border.
The National Park Service concessionaires offer accommodations for campers and their horses at Bandy Creek Stables as well as at Station Camp in Oneida, Tennessee and Bear Creek in Stearns, Kentucky. In addition, there are a number of privately-owned horse campgrounds in the vicinity. Most horse campers travel in a "living quarter" trailer which, like an RV, is essentially an efficiency apartment . There are stalls in the rear and an area for storing tack, equipment and utensils. You'll see hay carried in a rack on the roof and you might see brackets on the side holding several panels for setting up a portable corral.
Rigs are directed to a campsite which will have hookups for water and electric, possibly septic, and a picnic table. It will probably also have a "fire pit" for the evening campfire. Horses are accommodated in a variety of ways: some riders prefer to have them stalled overnight in an enclosed barn, others set up a portable corral with interlocking panels, some create a turnout area with plastic posts and hotwire powered by a portable charger. In more primitive campsites, horses may be tied to a picket line between two trees or, in remote areas, may be hobbled and allowed to graze near the campsite.
To research trails or horse campgrounds in your state or in a place that you might like to visit, you will find a wealth of information at the Horse And Mule Trail Guide USA website or by using the Horse Trail Directory.
For information about horse properties or Big SouthFork real estate, go to www.trailridersrealestate.com
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